99. A CLOSE CALL

　　"This is bizarre," Yin Anyan asked his family, "Who on earth killed my donkey?"

　　"What?"

　　"Yeah, somebody killed my donkey and left the skin in the yard." They went out to look.

　　"Looks like somebody ate the meat and left the hide." They were all pretty angry. It had been a nice donkey.

　　A year or two after this strange event, somebody accosted Yin on the street and said, "Your time is up. The soul-catchers will collect you tomorrow." And then the person disappeared in thin air.

　　Yin was covered with goose bumps. He went straight to Cumen Temple,where he knew some of the monks, and sat down in the chapel. He didn't go home that night, but spent his time kowtowing, telling the Buddha Amitabha's name, and reciting sutras.
　　Sure enough, the next morning he saw a dozen demons coming with spears and halberds and swords to fetch him. They stood outside the temple and roared, "Get out here as quick as you can!" Yin ignored them, and kept reciting his sutra.

　　"I told you we should have got him yesterday. Now he's in there reciting a sutra and there's not a thing we can do." Yin's hair stood on end when he heard that. He buried his nose in the sutra. The demons went into a huddle. Then they left to fetch other souls, but they stationed one demon at the door to catch Yin if he stepped outside.

　　Soon that sentry said, "Look, why don't you come along peacefully without any fuss? It'll be easier for us all around. We don't have anything against you personally. We're just doing our job.

　　"The problem is that the donkey you murdered has filed a suit against you, so we have to take you in. Sorry, man, but that's the way it has to be."

　　"You can ask my family!" Yin said. "I didn't kill that donkey at all! Somebody else did, and left the skin in my yard. I'm innocent!"

　　"Tell it to the judge."

　　"Look, let's do it this way. I'll recite sutras and hold ceremonies for the soul of my old donkey, but I can't do that if I'm dead, can I? Could you go ask the donkey if that's okay?"

　　"All right, I'll go see what I can do. But if the donkey doesn't buy that, we'll be back for you tomorrow, with a warrant, so it won't do you any good to hide in here. If we don't come for you tomorrow, that means it's a deal." The demon disappeared in a puff of smoke.

　　The next day Yin was on pins and needles all day, but the demons didn't show up. Yin recited sutras for the dead donkey's soul, and performed ceremonies to release it from its suffering.

　　But even better than that, Yin learned an important lesson. He learned that all living creatures love their lives. From then on, he and his entire family never ate another bite of meat.

99.招魂

　　“太怪了，”殷安严问他的家人，“究竟是谁杀了我的驴？”

“什么？”

　　“是的，有人杀了我的驴，还把驴皮留在院子里。”他们都出去查看。

　　“看上去好像是有人吃了驴肉，把驴皮留下了。”他们都很生气，那是一头很好的驴。

　　这件事发生一两年后，路上忽然有个人对殷搭话说，“你时间到了。鬼使明天就来逮你了。”说完那个人就不见了。

　殷全吓得全身起了鸡皮疙瘩，径直走到楚门寺，因为他认识那里的一些和尚。他在大殿里坐下来。那天晚上他没回家，而是不停地叩头、念佛、诵经。

　　果然，第二天早上他看见许多带着枪、戟、剑的鬼怪来抓他。他们站在寺门外，大声嚷着，“快出来！”殷对他们视而不见，继续念经。

　　我告诉你们我们昨天就应该把他抓走。现在他在里面念经，我们一点办法都没有。”殷听到后寒毛倒立，只顾埋头读经，鬼怪们商量 了一会，决定先去抓别的灵魂。他们在门口留下一个鬼怪，只要殷一出门，就把他抓走。
　　不久，这个鬼怪说，“你看，你为什么不安安静静地出来让我们把你带走呢？这对你我都有好处。我们对你并无恶意，我们只是在执行任务。”

　　“问题在于，你杀了的那头驴子告了你一状，所以我们才来抓你。对不起了，这是例行公事。”

　　“你可以问我的家人!”殷说，“我没有杀那头驴！别人干的，还把驴皮留在院子里。我是无辜的！”

　　“对法官说吧。”

　　“这样吧。我会为我的老驴诵经做超度法事。如果我死了，我就做不成了。请你回去问问那头驴，这样行不行?”

　　“好吧。我问问行不行。如果那头驴不买你的帐，我们明天还是会奉命回来抓你的。你老在这里躲着也没有什么用的。如果我们明天不回来，说明它同意了。”鬼怪化成一阵烟消失了。

　　第二天，殷一整天如坐针毡，但是鬼怪没有再出现。殷为驴子的灵魂念经，还做法事减轻它的痛苦。

　　比这更好的是，殷得到了重要的教训。他明白了所有的生物都爱惜自己的生命。从此，他和全家再也没吃过肉了。